


Scrapbook Musings

by AStrangeDaze (TerraRising)



Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death (Chapter 10), Drabble Collection, Gen, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-01-23 17:51:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 10,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12512900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraRising/pseuds/AStrangeDaze
Summary: Dumping ground for short drabbles, various pairings.1. Onghwang - "I'm not him"2. 2hyun - "I missed you"3. Ongniel + cat4. Jaehwan-centric ft. Justice League5. Ongniel + implied Onghwang - "I lost my heart"6. 2hyun - "costume"7. Onghyun - "Easy to love"8. Ongniel - "sweater weather"9. Nielhwan10. Ongniel - ?11. Ongniel - How much?12. Onghwang - Wonder13. Onghwang - Always14. Ongniel - Pet15. Ongniel - Hybrid!Daniel





	1. Onghwang - "I'm not him"

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a daily drabble project on twitter just as an outlet for all the little ideas that pop into my head and to stop writer's block from setting in (It didn't work, I still have writer's block for all the things I'm actually trying to finish).
> 
> Just thought I'd share them here too; length of each drabble will vary!
> 
> Feel free to drop a prompt if there's something you'd like to see a short drabble of, I'll pick up anything that might catch my fancy. 
> 
> \- TR <3

“I’m not him, okay?!” Seongwoo finds himself screaming, ripping himself away from Minhyun’s hand on his shoulder as if the touch burned him when those hands have only ever offered him comfort.

 

“I’m not him, I’ll never be him! I’m not good, I’m not great, I’m not the type to lay myself down and let others cross over my back. I’m never going to be Kim Jonghyun–”

 

“I never asked you to be!”

 

Seongwoo jerks to a stop at Minhyun’s outburst, staring back at Minhyun, chest heaving. He’s never understood what people meant by silence being deafening but now, quailing under the disappointment dripping from Minhyun’s gaze, he’s drowning in the silent condemnation.

 

“Then stop looking at me like that,” he begs, voice barely above a whisper now, a prayer he never meant to utter aloud, “Stop looking at me like I’m not measuring up.”


	2. 2hyun - "I missed you"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing suggested by @SchiniHu

_The sound of running water, birds chirping, the sun is warm on his face and there is sand beneath his feet. Ah, he must be in that place again._

_“Jonghyun-ah,” that familiar sweet voice cries._

_He turns towards it even as he carefully keeps his eyes shut. Careful, careful, or the dream will shatter._

_Careful, careful, or he’ll lose him again._

_“Jonghyun-ah.”_

_There are gentle hands cradling his face now, fingers running over his cheekbones softly, reverently, as if he was the most delicately spun china. A warmth blossoms over his cheeks, butterfly kisses peppered on his nose. Jonghyun smiles and cannot help but allow his eyes to flutter open._

_As with every other time, the stranger’s face is hazy. All Jonghyun can latch onto are those eyes – burnt cinnamon, the taste of galaxies, songs of stars, and the secret of falling leaves._

_He falls into them willingly; he falls into them desperately._

 

The dream dissolves into grey and his eyes snap open, the stucco ceiling of his room and the drying tears tracks on his face greets him like it does every morning he wakes from this dream. Today will be a different day, Jonghyun thinks to himself as he sits up to get ready for the day. And if that fails, tomorrow or the day after that. Someday will be different, surely.   

 

He’s crossing the street when the aberration happens. It’s the same route he takes everyday – grey, grey, grey – when his elbow bumps into a fragment of colour.

 

“Oh, sorry,” he looks up and his breath catches in his sternum; his heart takes the leap into those familiar eyes before his mind can make a conscious decision, “You.”

 

His stranger is tall. He’s handsome with hair the colour of pitch framing a face meant for fate and fairytale meetings. “Hello,” there is no curiosity in his face, only dreams and knowing and secrets.

 

“I missed you,” Jonghyun breathes, an ache for what he never had subsides.

 

His stranger smiles and reaches forward to cup Jonghyun’s face between his palms, only this time his touch is a slow searing burn. Real. Jonghyun leans into it eagerly.

 

“You found me,” his stranger murmurs against his forehead, lips feathering across his skin, “You found me.”


	3. Ongniel + cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Sya (cherrybombtriestowrite)

“You know, this is the third time I’ve found you like this. Do you happen to have an affinity for trees, Mr. Kang?”

 

Daniel could feel himself flushing fire engine red to the tips of his ears in embarrassment at the equally incredulous and amused look the handsome firefighter shot him. He laughed sheepishly even as the other man maneuvered the ladder closer to where Daniel was currently stranded in the upper branches of the tree, too high up to safely shift any further without risking the branches snapping.

 

“I swear I’m not doing this on purpose, sir,” he stammered out under the gaze of the older man, “It’s just Mrs. Kim’s kitten keeps getting stuck up in the tree and the kitten was meowing and I couldn’t not help!”

 

“Perhaps, Mr. Kang,” the other man drawled, swiftly ascending the ladder towards Daniel’s location, “You ought advise Mrs. Kim to invest in a proper ladder. Or find a way to help that does not involve you _also_ getting stuck in the tree.”

 

With nothing to say to that, Daniel meekly hands the now slumbering kitten he had been cradling to the firefighter who quickly turned and passed it to his waiting partner to return to a rather frantic Mrs. Kim. He then turned back to Daniel and offered the younger man a hand, “Come on, let’s get you out of that tree now, Mr. Kang.”

 

Daniel accepted his hand and stretched out a leg towards the ladder, only to freeze when the shifting of his weight caused the branch he was perched on to creak ominously. He had one moment to turn terrified eyes towards the firefighter before that creaking turned into a horrendous crack and he felt gravity take hold. With a strength one would not expect given his rather lithe frame, the firefighter yanked Daniel forward, causing the younger to crash rather spectacularly into his arms.

 

Daniel found himself planted face first into the older man’s firm chest, heart racing, with a strong arm around his waist supporting most of his weight. “Are you alright?” the older man asked, shifting Daniel until the ladder was braced against his back and taking most of the weight off of him.

 

“Now I am,” Daniel responded in a daze, before snapping his jaw shut, realizing what he had just said out loud. If he could blush any harder, Daniel was certain that he would overheat and combust.

 

The older man just chuckled under his breath and guided Daniel back onto solid ground safely. Daniel fidgeted from the sidelines while he watched the older man retrieve and pack the ladder away, jumping when his colleague sidled up beside him with a knowing grin.

 

“His name is Ong Seongwoo,” he started casually, “If you’re going to keep getting stuck in trees to see him, one would think you’d have enough mettle to ask his name by now.”

 

“I’m not! I didn’t, the kitten!” Daniel spluttered nonsensically at the implications.

 

The other firefighter threw his head back and cackled, “The first time you might have genuinely been stuck, but I saw that ladder propped on the side of that storage room.”

 

When Daniel could offer no response, the other flashed him a shit-eating grin. “I think you’ll also be interested to know that Seongwoo’s going to feature as ‘Mr. August’ in the firefighter’s nude charity calendar this year. I can guarantee you, if you don’t make a move soon, there will be _plenty_ of competition after the calendar hits the streets.”  

 

\-------------

 

Jaehwan walks away to the sound of Daniel choking on thin air, cackling loud enough to draw Seongwoo’s attention. He gives himself a pat on the back when he watches a red faced Daniel march over and blurt out his confession to a completely taken aback but pleased Seongwoo. And now he hopefully would no longer have to listen to Seongwoo gush about ‘that cute tree guy’.

 

Today was a good day.


	4. Jaehwan-centric ft. Justice League

Solitude was something that Jaehwan is intimately familiar with.

 

He sang alone, danced alone, practiced alone, chased after his dreams all on his own.

 

There were days where he asked himself if it was worth it, days when the envy he felt towards trainees who had companies (had  _company_ ) burned fierce in his chest until the words he sings become tinged with the smoky regrets he breathes out. On those days he sang late into the night until his fingers were shreds, until the strings on his guitar were bathed literal blood, sweat, and tears, didn't stop until he opened his mouth to empty his heart and nothing came out but a croak into the silence.

 

A week later the cuts scab over, he practices, rips his fingers apart again and again until the skin on his fingertips hardens, forms calluses to protect him. He had thought his heart had hardened over those sleepless, desperation-fueled nights as well.

 

He was wrong.

 

It had been easy, so easy to open his heart to them. It had been unusual at first, getting used to breathing in another's space, to have people constantly hovering over his shoulder, to weather Jonghyun's concern, Minhyun's unspoken questions when he presses their elbows together, and the casual way Daniel or Seongwoo would put their arm around his shoulders. He soaks it all in like a sponge, he comes out of his shell slowly and then all at once when he finds they do not shy away from him even when he is loud. At night when Hyunbin clambers into his bunk and sprawls all of his lanky limbs over Jaehwan like some demented spider-legged puppy, he wonders if this is what love feels like, this quiet, steady warmth he wants to guard so jealously.

 

But it is wishful thinking, it is poison to have tasted love once and have it slowly fade from you. Minhyun had Jonghyun long before the idea of their ragtag group was even conceived and the program rips Hyunbin from them brutally, Jaehwan feels the ache every night their beds aren't invaded by those uncoordinated limbs.

 

He gravitates towards Daniel and Seongwoo, clings to their company fiercely, wants to beg them to pull him back from this abyss only he can see, to not let go  _ever_ ,  ** _please_**. Yet the longer he watches them together, the more certain Jaehwan becomes that the two fit together seamlessly; there will never be room between them for three.

 

 _There was never room for me_.

 

Three months into his contract, his agreement to be Kim Jaehwan of Wanna One, he creeps away to the rooftop when his fellow members (but were they ever his?) slumber on. He sits there in the silence, breathing in the night, guitar in hand and begins to play. His fingers hurt, he hasn't practiced this way in a while, the calluses have softened.

 

But fingers can harden again, as can hearts. It was just a matter of how much blood and tears that had to be shed first.


	5. Ongniel + implied Onghwang - "I lost my heart"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warning: character death

The sobs that Seongwoo had been trying desperately to hold back finally force their way out when they light the funeral pyre.

 

They start from the center of his heart, building until they shake along his bones, exiting his body in choked whimpers and then full-blown sobs. As the tears blur his vision and rob his legs of their strength, Seongwoo wonders how he still has tears to cry. It should be impossible for the human body to bear so much grief and not shatter into dust.

 

Then again, he had also thought it would be impossible that Daniel would be leaving him like this.

 

Minhyun catches him before he can crumble to the ground; to any casual observer the other man looks to be supporting Seongwoo, but their close friends know differently. Minhyun's silent support so far, the arm that he had linked through Seongwoo's all morning and now the vice-grip on Seongwoo's elbow and around his waist is there because Minhyun will not risk Seongwoo throwing himself unto the blazing funeral pyre.

 

"Remember when I told you I could no longer remember a time before you, my love?" Seongwoo whispers through his tears, eyes fixed on the flames slowly consuming the body of the man he loved more than life itself, "Perhaps I should have held my tongue instead of tempting fate. I was not meant to know the pain of a life after you."

 

"Seongwoo-ah," comes Minhyun's soft voice, thick with pain at seeing Seongwoo breaking apart at the seams.

 

The fire crackles and roars and Seongwoo sobs, clutching at his heart as if he could feel pain from the flames searing through his skin. He sinks to the ground, leaning heavily against Minhyun's legs, uncaring of appearances; composure and family honour be damned, that was his husband's body they were burning.

 

"Min," he chokes out, fingers clawing at his chest, "Min, it hurts, it hurts. They're burning my heart with him."

 

The guests look on at the spectacle and Minhyun hisses in anger; he makes an angry gesture at the crowd and immediately their friends start to usher the guests away, each as livid at the next that these people who were supposed to be paying their respects were gawking at Seongwoo as if his pain was entertaining. The damage is done and snide rumours will fly for weeks, Minhyun will likely weather his own when they remark that he had no standing or connection to the family to be dismissing them from the service like this, how  _presumptuous_ he had been, but he doesn't care.

 

From the corner of his eye, Minhyun watches as Jonghyun steps forward with a frown to pull rank on the last stragglers refusing to leave. Turning his attention back to Seongwoo, he tightens his hold when he feels Seongwoo lurch forward towards the pyre. "Seong-ah," he pleads, "Please, not like this. He's somewhere else now, you cannot go to him like this."

 

Seongwoo turns wide eyes towards him and Minhyun feels his heart clench painfully at how lost Seongwoo looks in the moment. "Min," the other man whispers brokenly, "What am I supposed to do? I lost my heart the moment they took him from me. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to keep living without my heart?"

 

Minhyun pulls the other man close to him, enfolding that too thin form into his arms, wincing as he feels every pound that Seongwoo has lost since Daniel's death. Seongwoo trembles in his embrace, body shaking as it struggled to hold in all the grief and emotion that his soul could no longer handle.

 

"If you've lost your heart," Minhyun swallows thickly, murmuring his response into Seongwoo's hair, uncaring that it was unwashed and limp with sorrow, "If you must have a heart so that you can live, then take mine. I will give my heart to you; I will give everything and anything to you. I do not need a heart if only I can have you close still."

 

He clutches Seongwoo even closer desperately, as if he could smother those tremors, could suffuse the hole that grief has left in the wake of Seongwoo's heart with his will alone.

 

"Stay with me," he pleads, "Stay here with me, take my heart instead."

 

Seongwoo is silent, limp in his hold. He does not pull away though he does not answer Minhyun's pleas. It's not what Minhyun wants, what he needs, he needs to hear Seongwoo promise he will not try to follow Daniel even into death, but for now it would be enough.

 

It would have to be enough.


	6. 2hyun - "costume"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "cute, fun, and happy" as requested by Emma (thisseemslikefun)

“I don’t know why you get to pick the costume,” Jonghyun whined as Minhyun shoved him towards his room with a grin, “I’m not wearing it if it’s something stupid.”

 

“You picked last year,” Minhyun reminds him, “So I get to pick this year, no complaining!”

 

“Fine,” Jonghyun huffed, giving into his boyfriend easily. They passed by Aaron who was standing in the hallway eating a bowl of cereal in his Jack Sparrow costume, willfully ignoring him as he snickered at how whipped Jonghyun was.

 

“But I swear if it’s something stupid, I’m going to get you back,” he tacked on.

 

“Just put it on,” Minhyun cajoles, pushing him through the door, “I left it on your bed, get changed, we’re leaving in twenty minutes!”

 

Jonghyun sighs as Minhyun closes the door behind him, turning to the bed to pick up the pile of misshapen blue fabric. He supposes he’d better hurry up and get changed; if he’s late to the party, it won’t be Minhyun who’s upset but Minki and their youngest could throw tantrums with the best of them. Picking up the costume, he pauses and frowns. “Hey, Minhyun,” he calls, raising his voice so he can be heard through the door, “Is this the whole thing? Some parts look like they’re…missing.”

 

“It’s fine!” Minhyun shouts back, “Just put it on! I’m going to get changed now.”

 

“Alright, if you say so….”

 

 

\------------

 

 

Dongho opens the door when they ring the doorbell, takes one look at them and doubles over laughing.

 

“What the _hell_ , oh my god,” he gasps for air, “You’re taking couple costumes too far.”

 

Jonghyun flushes to the tips of his ears in embarrassment while Minhyun just grins unrepentantly, nuzzling the side of Jonghyun’s head and dropping a quick kiss to his temple. “It’s his fault,” Jonghyun pouts, walking into the apartment with Minhyun attached to his back, the taller man’s arms wrapped securely around his waist, “blame him, he’s the one who came up with this idea.”

 

Dongho snickers while he scans the crowd for their errant friend and waves Minki over. Minki sees them and beams, weaving through the crowd until he reaches their group, greeting Aaron with an enthusiastic hug before he turns to survey Jonghyun and Minhyun’s choice of costume. His lips twist in bemusement as he takes in how the two of them have to rock side to side in an odd shuffle to walk without tripping over each other given how Minhyun is stuck to Jonghyun’s back.

 

“You guys are dressed as wartortle.”

 

“Yup!” Minhyun chirps, chin hooked over Jonghyun’s shoulder.

 

“ _One_ wartortle,” Minki deadpans.

 

“Yup,” Minhyun confirms with a wide grin, patting the ‘shell’ portion of the costume that encases his torso, “He’s the turtle and I’m the shell!”

 

“You’re just looking for an excuse not to let go of him for the entire night,” Minki accuses him even as Dongho starts laughing again at the sheer embarrassment written all over Jonghyun’s face.

 

“Guilty,” Minhyun confirms, completely shamelessly though he turns concerned eyes towards the man in his arms, “You okay, babe? This is okay, right?”

 

Jonghyun swallows his blush and turns towards his beaming boyfriend. He sighs and presses a kiss to his cheek, “Yeah, this is just fine.”


	7. Onghyun - "Easy to love"

_"I know it's not my place anymore but….can I give you some advice?"_

 

_Jonghyun stares at his girlfriend, ex-girlfriend now his brain reminds him helpfully, and then nods hesitantly, a smile plastered to his face at an angle that was just a little off._

 

_"Your problem is that you're too easy to love."_

 

_When he doesn't respond beyond a bewildered widening of his eyes, Yura sighs heavily and then sits back down heavily. "I'm serious, Jonghyun-ah, you're too nice, but you're like that to everyone. In the beginning it's charming, but after a while it's tiring; we were dating but I felt like you treated everyone just the same. What you would do for me, you would do for a stranger. Even now I asked you how you felt about breaking up and you said we should if that's what I wanted. That's not how you go about being considerate!"_

 

_She slapped the table to emphasize her point, too worked up to realize that the waiters were staring now. "Maybe you loved me, maybe you didn't, but whatever you were feeling for me, I didn't feel it. Do you understand what I'm getting at? I want you to know this for your own good, Jonghyun-ah. The next time you find someone you love, treat them that way, be selfish for once and don't let go, okay?"_

 

_Having made her point, Yura whirled on her heels and marched out of the café with her head held high. Jonghyun slumped against the back of his chair, defeated, and then rummages in his pocket to pull out his wallet. A passing waiter brings him the bill with a sympathetic look on his face, "Sorry you had to go through that man, public break ups are the worst, eh?"_

 

_Jonghyun just laughs awkwardly in response, not quite sure what he could say to that, and pulls out a few bills, muttering that he could keep the change before hurrying out of the café himself._

 

_\----------_

 

That was two years ago, that was six break ups ago. Yura was only one in a chain of people leaving him behind with vague disappointed smiles, as if Jonghyun had disappointed them by being different from fantasies after all (or was it by being exactly what he seemed to be, without hidden depths?).

 

Now he’s sitting in the same cursed café at some mixer he has no idea how he allowed his friends to talk him into. Maybe Yura was right, maybe he was ‘too nice’; it had sounded like a paltry reason at the time but of all his exes, Yura had been the only one to give him a straightforward explanation.  

 

Jonghyun thinks of how he ended up where he was now, of how he never confessed to his first crush even though Minki found out years later and teases him about it even now, and of how he’d all but pushed his first real love into someone else’s arms (because as exasperated as Dongho makes Minhyun, he’s never see his best friend smile brighter when he was with anyone else).

 

“Hey,” a quiet voice and a gentle nudge to his side has Jonghyun looking up quickly towards his left.

 

He was greeted by a teasing grin from a handsome man around his age; for a moment he wonders what someone this good looking was doing at a mixer, surely he could date whomever he wanted?

 

“You okay?” the stranger continues, losing the teasing look as he peers at Jonghyun with undisguised concern when Jonghyun stares at him blankly, “You look a little pale, do you want water or something?”

 

“A-ah,” Jonghyun stuttered, flapping his hands in front of himself to reassure the other, “I’m fine! I’m just, not used to these sorts of things?”

 

The stranger laughs, tugging on his own sleeves, “Yeah, don’t worry, you’re not the only one. I'm Ong Seongwoo, I’m here to support a friend mainly but maybe also because they think I'm tragic, you?”

 

Jonghyun lets out a nervous laugh, hiding the lower half of his face behind sweater paws his wringing hands had formed without thought, "Kim Jonghyun, and friends as well. They, um, they think I need to put myself out there to find the 'right' person."

 

"Well then," Ong Seongwoo (and wasn't that a rare last name?) reaches his arm forward slowly, telegraphing his movement clearly, and taps his fist against Jonghyun's playfully, "Best of luck to the both of us, Kim Jonghyun. We're going to find someone here worth the long trek through this winter weather, yeah?"

 

Jonghyun finds himself smiling and nodding back at Seongwoo helplessly, the other man's optimistic attitude was infectious and he breathes a bit easier. Talking with Seongwoo wasn't so bad, surely the other participants in this mixer would be just a friendly, right?

 

Two hours later, Jonghyun curses himself for speaking too soon. It's been a disaster so far and he's more than ready to excuse himself and run for the hills. He's been interrogated by three women already about his job and salary, whether he's interested in settling down and starting a family within the next five years. A younger man had come, perched himself on Jonghyun's right and given him a flirty smile before straight up asking if Jonghyun was interested in being his sugar daddy. He had walked away snickering with how red Jonghyun turned, leaving more curious singles to wander up and ask Jonghyun what the matter was.

 

Amidst all the hustle and bustle, there had been one other man who Jonghyun had been comfortable talking too, a tall man with broad shoulders who introduced himself as Daniel, but he had laughed at anything and everything until Jonghyun floundered, wondering if he was doing something wrong. He had wandered off shortly after Jonghyun offered him only painfully awkward smiles and was now chatting up a storm with a couple of other participants.

 

The only thing that was keeping Jonghyun from bolting altogether was the steady and warm presence at his side. Seongwoo had made to get up once to socialize only to see Jonghyun turn panicked eyes towards him while in the midst of being interrogated by potential-bride-no.2; he had promptly sat back down and redirected the woman's attention to himself, reaching over discreetly to pat Jonghyun on the back.

 

As if sensing his mounting distress, Seongwoo shifts so that he can press their knees against each other under the table, shooting Jonghyun a reassuring smile before drawing Jonghyun into his conversation with a bright eyed young man by the name of Sungwoon, the point of contact a silent reminder that he was here if Jonghyun needed anything. So Jonghyun makes himself take a deep breath and find his smile again, lets the feeling of Seongwoo's leg pressed against his ground him in the hustle and bustle of too many strangers. He could do this; it was only a bit longer until the event draws to a close, he just had to hold out until then.

 

Another hour later, everything starts winding down. People around him are all exchanging numbers with the other singles they've hit it off with. To his surprise, Jonghyun gets approached by several people and he gives them his number, not quite knowing how to tell them he wasn't really interested. It comes as no surprise at all though that Seongwoo is swarmed with potential suitors, each vying for his attention, for his number, for coffee tomorrow, for a date next week.

 

All evening long, the other man had been charming, funny and witty, a real mood-maker – it wasn't hard at all for Jonghyun to see how so many found him attractive when he was easily the best acquaintance Jonghyun had made all evening. Jonghyun spots Daniel in the crowd of potentials, sees the taller man sidle closer to Seongwoo until he's pressed against his side, an arm slung around slim shoulders as if trying to stake his claim. Seongwoo turns towards him with a smile at the intrusion of his personal space but doesn't shy away even though he makes no move to reciprocate, and a part of Jonghyun that he hadn't even known existed burned with vindictive pleasure, looking down to see where Seongwoo still had his knee pressed against Jonghyun's.

 

He turns, wanting to engage Seongwoo in conversation but Daniel is persistent in monopolizing his attention and Jonghyun hesitates, not wanting to be rude and interrupt. All around them the café workers are already starting to clean up and ask the patrons politely to leave. He watches as Daniel stands up and pulls Seongwoo with him, pulls him away from Jonghyun, watches as he hands the other man his jacket and tells Seongwoo that there was this great ramen stand just around the block they should totally stop by now. Daniel draws Seongwoo towards the door, joking loudly, and Jonghyun is standing there, hovering helplessly.

 

If he doesn't say anything now, there was no way for him to contact Seongwoo again.

 

If he doesn't say anything now, Seongwoo would go off with Daniel to eat ramen, probably fall for the other man's infectious laughter and boyish charm, and end up happily dating him.

 

But Jonghyun doesn't want that.

 

Jonghyun realizes that sitting there by Seongwoo he had felt more at ease than he's ever been on dates with any number of his exes. Jonghyun wants that steady presence in his life, craves the comfort Seongwoo had so easily realized he, a complete stranger, had needed and provided without a second thought.

 

He wants a chance to talk to Seongwoo more, wants to meet him for coffee or tea or anything really, to get to know him better. He wants to know if Seongwoo really is this funny all the time, if he really is that perceptive of people's needs around him, if it wasn't a fluke that had Jonghyun relaxing so easily in his presence. He wants to go on dates with Seongwoo, to be the one to sling an arm around his waist and make him smile like he was smiling at Daniel.

 

He wants to know if Seongwoo can imagine a future with him too, or if Jonghyun is being crazy all on his own.   


 

 _The next time you find someone you love, treat them that way, be selfish for once and don't let go, okay?_  


 

Yura's voice rings out loud and clear in his head and Jonghyun wants to laugh. Was it love? It couldn't be, he's known Seongwoo for three hours and only got to speak with him for part of it, there's no way that it's anything even close to resembling love.

 

But he wants it to be.

 

His legs are moving before Jonghyun himself even registers that he's made a decision, he runs up to where Seongwoo is about to leave the café, hand darting out to grab onto his forearm, "Seongwoo-ssi!"

 

Seongwoo turns around with curious eyes that turn warm when he sees it was Jonghyun, "Ah, Jonghyun-ssi! Sorry, I didn't mean to leave without saying goodbye."

 

"Can I have your number?" Jonghyun blurts out before he can regret it, feeling the tips of his ears burn.

 

A lovely smile stretches over Seongwoo's face until his eyes are crinkled up endearingly, the three moles beneath his left eye twinkling like stars to Jonghyun.

 

  
"I thought you'd never ask."


	8. Ongniel - "sweater weather"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anon on CC who asked: 
> 
> "i have been really craving for some cute ongniel can you please please please write some cute, domestic, cuddly ongniel? thank you! even if you cant/wont, still thank you!"

“What’re you making?”

 

The words are just about yawned into his neck and Daniel doesn’t bother fighting back a grin when his barely awake boyfriend drapes himself over Daniel’s back, arms looping around Daniel’s waist loosely.

 

“Breakfast,” Daniel nudges Seongwoo’s arms with his elbows, turning his head to sneak a quick peck to the older man’s nose, “Go wash up, it’ll be done in a few minutes.”

 

Seongwoo mumbles a response into Daniel’s neck but makes no move to leave his perch. Daniel laughs to himself when Seongwoo becomes a dead weight, the shaking of his shoulders almost dislodging the other. “Are you falling asleep on me?” he teases while Seongwoo whines, burying his face into Daniel’s shoulder and tightening his arms in a silent warning for Daniel to stop moving and be a good pillow.

 

“Babe, you can’t sleep like this.”

 

He shakes his head when he gets no response, turning his attention back to the eggs in the pan and flipping them as gently as he knows how so Seongwoo won’t wake up. He lets Seongwoo doze off against him for a couple more minutes before he has to move.

 

Putting the pan and spatula down, he turns to scoop Seongwoo up, depositing him on the counter and peppering his face with kisses to wake him up. Seongwoo’s nose crinkles up cutely as he pushes Daniel’s face away to escape the ticklish sensation and Daniel gasps in mock offense, “You don’t want my kisses anymore?!”

 

Seongwoo squints at him, still groggy from sleep and shakes his head slowly from side to side, making grabby motions with his hands until they end up tangled in the sleeves of the sweater he had stolen from Daniel months ago and never gave back. Daniel takes in the sight of his normally flawless hyung sleep-mussed and vulnerable, clad only in _Daniel’s_ sweater which is oversized on him, and melts, cooing as he crowds Seongwoo against the counter. He rubs their noses together in an eskimo kiss and giggles at the slow, pleased smile that stretches across Seongwoo’s face in response.

 

When Seongwoo leans forward to try and catch Daniel’s lips in a kiss, he pulls back, “Nuh-uh, I told you to go wash up so we can eat. No kisses until you’ve brushed your teeth!”

 

But then Seongwoo whines and pouts so prettily at him that Daniel gives in before he realizes it, pressing a lingering kiss to Seongwoo’s mouth as the other gives a pleased hum. “Now go wash up and change,” he whispers.

 

Seongwoo darts forward to steal another kiss before he hops off the counter with a grin, “One more for the road?”

 

Daniel laughs and gives Seongwoo the kiss he wants because he’s never been good at telling the other man no, “Go!”

 

His boyfriend grins into the kiss triumphantly before he finally heads towards the washroom, only to come back fifteen minutes later with a cheeky grin, dressed in yet another one of Daniel’s sweaters.

 

“Don’t you have clothes of your own?” Daniel asks, exasperated as he realizes this is yet another one of his favourite sweaters he was not going to get back, “Why don’t you wear your own stuff? Your sweaters are even nicer than mine are; they’re all brand name from your modelling gigs.”

 

Seongwoo shrugs, reaching over to snag a slice of toast, spreading butter over it with a single-minded intensity most people reserve for important things like taxes or physics calculations. “I like the way your sweaters smell like you and how they’re big on me,” he answers nonchalantly, “It makes me feel like I’m always in your arms.”

 

Daniel gapes at his boyfriend, feeling the blood rush to his face and paint his skin a brighter red than the strawberry jam Seongwoo was currently eyeing. His boyfriend looks up when Daniel doesn’t answer, cocking his head to the side in confusion when Daniel splutters uselessly, “What’s wrong?”

 

“What’s wrong? _What’s wrong_?!” Daniel flails, “How could you even say such greasy things with a straight face?”

 

Seongwoo stares back before blinking when he finally registers which words had embarrassed Daniel, and he shrugs before turning back to his toast. “I’m just telling the truth,” he tacks on, because of course Seongwoo wouldn’t be embarrassed, being without a doubt one of the most shameless people Daniel knows.

 

Daniel just buries his burning face in his arms, glad that this line had slipped out at home and not while they were with friends, or everyone else around them would be alternative between choking and teasing them (read: Daniel) mercilessly. “I hate you,” he mumbles into his arms.

 

“You love me,” Seongwoo quips back easily, spearing a forkful of eggs and holding it towards Daniel expectantly, “Now eat your omelet, it’s getting cold.”


	9. Nielhwan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Birthday request from Mapachii, happy (belated?) birthday!

“Jaehwan-ah.”

 

Jaehwan glanced up at where Daniel was standing behind the couch as he separated from Seongwoo with a sheepish grin, having just returned from his filming of Master Key with the other, and turned back to the television. Picking up the remote, he flipped through the channels, stopping on some random variety show he hadn’t seen before and pretended to be engrossed.

 

He could sense Daniel deflating a bit behind him before large hands settled on his shoulders, shaking him back and forth, “Jaehwan-ah, don’t be mad.”

 

He shrugged Daniel’s hands off his shoulders and determinedly kept his eyes on the television screen. Sensing the rising tensions, Daehwi looks up from the ipad he was playing with and then gets up from the couch, scurrying out of the room and dragging Jinyoung with him.

 

If he was honest about it, Jaehwan wasn’t really all that upset with Daniel. He knows that Daniel was just really good friends with Seongwoo; the two were like-minded souls who had clicked since the first time they ran into each other on the set of Produce 101. Their bromance was something that had fans excited and so their management always asked the two to play it up for fanservice. Jaehwan knows it’s silly to get bothered about this, but when everyone keeps talking about how Daniel looks like a great couple with his best friend and not with his actual boyfriend, it stings no matter how many times he hears it.

 

So once in a while, when it gets to be too much, Jaehwan will allow himself the luxury of stewing in his irritation. He doesn’t mean to punish Daniel with it, but getting his boyfriend to pay more attention to him instead of joking around with Seongwoo was an added bonus. (And Jaehwan has seen Minhyun do something similar to Seongwoo, only minus the silent sulking, because Minhyun was ridiculously good at guilt tripping his boyfriend with just one look.)

 

“Jaehwanie~”

 

Jaehwan froze at the exaggerated aegyo dripping from Daniel’s voice. While he was lost in thought, Daniel had wandered away and then returned without him realizing. Something soft tickles at his face as Daniel calls his name again and Jaehwan turns slowly, wondering what he’s going to see this time.

 

Daniel stands behind him, waving his hands around with those ridiculous white cat paws he had been using on SNL previously, and Jaehwan almost bites clean through his lip trying to keep a straight face.

 

“What are you doing?” he asks, struggling not to laugh as Daniel throws in a couple of meowing sounds and wiggles around on the spot.

 

“Trying to make you smile!” his boyfriend announces brightly, laughing to himself and imitating the motion of a cat’s paw, “Is it working? Don’t be mad at me Jaehwanie~”

 

“It’s not,” Jaehwan tries to deadpan, only for his traitorous lips to start twitching upwards at how utterly ridiculous Daniel looks, “Where did you even get those?”

 

“The set noonas gave them to me as a souvenir,” Daniel sings, bounding over to plop down in the seat beside Jaehwan with a grin, reaching over to squish Jaehwan’s face between those stupid fake cat paws, “Aren’t they cute? Do you like them?”

 

“They’re as ridiculous as you are,” Jaehwan’s voice is muffled with how Daniel is squishing his cheeks, “Get off me!”

 

“Not until you promise you’re not mad at me anymore,” Daniel insists, leaning closer with a shit eating grin before he unleashes his own pout at Jaehwan, “You know I don’t feel that way about Seongwoo hyung, right? You know I only have eyes for you, right?”

 

“You better,” Jaehwan announces, yanking his head backwards with a scoff, “I’m fabulous and you should be grateful and know how lucky you are that I’m dating you!”

 

“I am,” Daniel agrees easily.

 

“And I’m better looking than Seongwoo,” Jaehwan tacks on.

 

“You are.”

 

“And smarter!”

 

“Of course,” Daniel agrees again, scooting closer and looking at Jaehwan with an adoring smile.

 

“And you’re only allowed to look at me from now on!”

 

“Mmhm,” Daniel leans forward to press a kiss against Jaehwan’s forehead, “You’re the main everything in my life, Kim Jaehwan. Now will you stop being mad and let me cuddle with you? I’ve missed you all day.”

 

“Fine,” Jaehwan huffs even as he snuggles into his boyfriend’s arms, “But you better sit beside me in the van tomorrow.”

 

“Yes dear,” Daniel snickers into Jaehwan’s hair, reaching over to grab the remote and change the channel, “Now let’s watch something interesting, only ahjussis watch this show.”


	10. Ongniel - ?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Character Death

"Is it, is it going to hurt?" Daniel croaks out.

  
  
Seongwoo tries desperately to bite his sobs back, one hand clutching Daniel's arm tightly while the other pressed uselessly against the gaping wound in the younger man's stomach. Blood gushes out with every laboured breath Daniel takes, warm and sticky against Seongwoo’s skin, the scent strong enough in the air for Seongwoo to taste.

  
  
If he had found Daniel fifteen minutes earlier, ten minutes earlier even, maybe there would still be a chance he could heal it, but now all he could do was take the pain away.

  
  
"No," he offers a tremulous smile, "it won't hurt. It'll just be like, like going to sleep."

  
  
"Oh, okay," Daniel grins, barring teeth tinged red, "do you think it'll be like dreaming?"

  
  
"Maybe," Seongwoo whispers, "yeah. Like slipping into your dreams. C-close your eyes, just think about good things. The nicest and most peaceful place you want to go."

  
Daniel hums, letting his eyes fall shut, then smiles. "I see it," his voice is faint now, nothing like his usual cheerful tones.

  
  
"What do you see?" Seongwoo asks even though he's almost afraid to know.

  
  
"That field under that apple tree where we first met. You got mad at me that time, you thought I was stealing, remember? You threw an apple at me."

  
  
"Yes," Seongwoo chokes out around his tears, leaning forward to press his cheek against Daniel's shoulder, "I remember."

  
  
"I think I'd like to go there again."

  
"Okay. Okay. Let's meet there, okay? After you wake up, we'll meet under that apple tree. Just like old times."

  
"Hey hyung?" Daniel whispers.

  
  
"Yes?"

  
  
"Where I'm going, will you be there too?"

  
  
Seongwoo bites his lips and let's his tears fall down to mingle with the blood on Daniel's face. "Yeah, I'll be there. Anywhere you go, I'll be there."

  
  
"Oh, that's good. If you'll be there then I'm not, I'm not scared anymore......hyung?"

  
  
"Yes?" Seongwoo's voice is a whisper in the wind now as if he was afraid even a stronger exhale would send Daniel’s soul far, far away. 

  
"Thank you," Daniel turns his head laboriously to smile at Seongwoo, "for everything. But. Don't come meet me there too quickly, okay? I can wait. I'll wait...... for you...."

  
Seongwoo sobs when he feels the hand in his go slack, the force of his grief shakes his entire frame and the earth around him as his magic goes haywire. It feels like forever until someone dares approach him, the blood on his skin has cooled and congealed by then. He must look a ghastly sight when Jihoon lays a cautious hand on his shoulder, "Hyung..."

  
  
"I'm going to kill them," Seongwoo bites out, his voice a deadly calm even as the ground around them shifts and groans with his power, "I'm going to kill every last one of them."  



	11. Ongniel - How much?

"Hey Daniel," Seongwoo asked, staring up at the stars as he fiddled with the younger boy's fingers, "How much do you love me?"

 

“Hmm…” Daniel mused, pretending to think as he propped himself up on his elbows to glance at Seongwoo, “How much do I love you?”

 

“Mm,” Seongwoo nodded affirmatively with a grin, falling backwards into the sweet grass that cushioned his descent. 

 

“Well,” Daniel turned on his side to look at Seongwoo properly, eyes tracing his elegant features fondly, following the moonbeams that highlighted the slope of his nose.

 

He tugged their joined hands closer and pressed a kiss to Seongwoo’s thumb. “The reasons I love you number more than every blade of grass there is in the world.”

 

Pressing a kiss to Seongwoo’s index finger, he continued, “I love you more than there are stars in the heavens or clouds in the sky.”

 

Seongwoo turned on his side too now so that he could face Daniel as the other man pressed a kiss to his middle finger. “I love you until you have become my today and all my tomorrows.”

 

“I love you,” he continued, pressing a lingering kiss to Seongwoo’s ring finger, “such that home is no longer a place, but a person.”

 

“Since the first time I saw you, I knew that you would be my beginning and my end,” Daniel pressed a final kiss to Seongwoo’s pinky, lips reverent as is sealing a promise.

 

Seongwoo’s smile was a slow, steady thing that crept across his face until it was blinding. The radiance of his joy put the moon in the sky to shame as he rolled over to catch Daniel in his arms, cupping that lovely face and kissing those lips sweetly, as gently as he knew how, to cherish this darling boy in his embrace.

 

“And I,” he whispered to Daniel with the very stars as his witness, “I love you more with every breath I take. I love you until there is no room in my heart for anybody else. I love you until I no longer wish for anything; you who are the answer to all my dreams.”

 

“And will you love me forever?” Daniel asked teasingly, even as he drew Seongwoo closer to nuzzle his face into the nape of his neck.

 

“Forever and a day,” Seongwoo promised, pillowing his head on Daniel’s chest with a contented sigh as he listened to the younger man’s steady heartbeat, “And you?”

 

“For this lifetime, and every lifetime after this,” he vowed solemnly.

 

“It’s a promise then?”

 

“Always,” Daniel confirmed, arms snug around Seongwoo’s waist, “always.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still on hiatus, lol, I just got really sappy (in between being ridiculously angsty) and this happened. I guess I'm trying to redeem myself?


	12. Onghwang - Wonder

"He's here again," Minki floats up to sit on the branches of the acorn tree beside Minhyun, sounding fascinated by the behavior of the human below them.

 

Baekho snorts from his spot below them, lounging lazily on out of the broader low hanging branches, scratching at his neck as he yawns, "So he's here again, what's the big deal?"

 

"He's _interesting_ ," Minki insists, flipping over to hang from the branch and get a closer look at the human who has decided to make their glen his hideaway place, "He's not like the other humans. The other ones are loud and come and cut down trees or kill animals while screaming like barbarians; he's just quiet and he talks to the tree sometimes like it's his friend. I like him."

 

"Doesn't matter if you like him, he'll go just like the rest eventually," Baekho reaches out to snap off a young budding acorn with a murmured apology to the tree and then flicks it mischievously at the human's head, laughing when the man's head snaps up.

 

Minki coos, floating down on fluttering hummingbird wings to pat at the abused spot soothingly but the phantom touch just startles the human even more. Minhyun tsks and pushes off his perch to land next to them, pulling Minki back a few paces. "Stop that," he scolds, ears on top of his head twitching as he curls his tails around his waist to keep them out of the way, "You're only going to scare him more, he might not be able to see you but he can definitely feel you when you do that."

 

"Oh, but he's so _adorable_ ," Minki pouts at Minhyun, gesticulating towards the human who shrugged off the moment easily, going back to his book and patting the bark on the tree as if to reassure it, "Look at him! He's so pretty to look at, are we sure he's really just a human?"

 

"Humans can be pretty too," Minhyun responds drily, "And if he wasn't, he would have seen you earlier. And stop dawdling; aren't you supposed to be running an errand for Jonghyun?"

 

Minki makes a dissatisfied sound in the back of his through though he obligingly retrieves his forgotten parcel and makes for the skies, "Fine, fine, I'd better not keep Jonghyun waiting, I guess I'll see you guys around!"

 

As if taking his cue from Minki, Baekho also tilts himself off of his seat on the branch, landing in a low crouch. "Around time for me to go find Aron too, later Min," he lifts a hand flippantly to wave over his shoulder before flexing his aura and disappearing in a whirling wind.

 

"Lazy!" Minhyun calls after him in jest, "You could have walked, Aron lives less than a league away from here!"

 

He can hear laughter in the breeze that playfully tugs at his tails and he twitches them in irritation, "Stop that!"

 

Baekho's presence slowly fades with one last tug and Minhyun rolls his eyes with a huff.

 

"Honestly though two," he grumbles to himself, "You'd think thousands of years would temper personalities but they only get more childish."

 

Turning back to the only person still occupying the glen, Minhyun can't help but step closer, crouching to inspect the human Minki had been so delighted by. He had a pleasing face with framed by onyx locks that feathered against pale skin and dark intelligent eyes that were focused on the novel in his lap. "You are rather pretty, aren't you?" Minhyun muses to himself, reaching out absently to touch the little cluster of moles on the human's cheek, "I wonder…"

 

The human freezes, head jerking up to look in Minhyun's direction and Minhyun freezes. Can he see him? But before, he hadn't reacted to Minki at all, so how?

 

"Hello?" the human calls out hesitantly, eyes darting around the clearing, "Is there….is there someone here?"

 

"Can you hear me?" he tries and the human's head snaps at attention, looking directly at Minhyun, seeming to look him dead in the eye and Minhyun's breath catches at the intensity of his gaze.

 

"Yes, I, um, who's there?" he calls, starting to sound frightened.

 

Minhyun swallows heavily, eyeing the smooth cheekbone his fingers are still caressing speculatively, before pressing his entire palm against the human's cheek, cradling his jaw carefully in his fingers and _willing_ his aura to the surface of his skin. The human gasps, jolting backwards into the trunk of the tree even as his hand comes flying up to touch the back of Minhyun's hand, shock painting his features into something endearingly comical as his mouth opens and closes uselessly.

 

"I-" he gasps out, " _what_? You just- how did you-"

 

"You can see me," Minhyun breathes.

 

"I, um, yes," the human stutters, "Am I not supposed to?"

 

"No," Minhyun's voice is tinged heavily with curiousity and awe, thumb brushing against soft skin in wonder, "You're not. But you can, you really can see me."

 

 

Well, that certainly changes things. 


	13. Onghwang - Always

 

"Y-you said you wouldn't do this!" he hiccuped, wiping away tears and hiding his face with a whine, "No public proposals! You know I hate crying in public!"

 

"But I wanted the whole world to know," Minhyun coos softly, taking both of Seongwoo's hands in his and pulling them away from his face gently, "Is that a yes then, jagiya? Will you be mine forever?"

 

Seongwoo's hand come up to hit Minhyun's chest weakly as he shudders to take another breath through his tears, "It was always going to be a yes, you fool. Now stop making me cry!"

 

Minhyun steps closer with a huge grin, “Only ever happy tears, love, only happy tears. I’m going to kiss you now.”

 

“No,” Seongwoo turns his face away, “I’m all gross now.”

 

“Don’t care,” Minhyun leans in and Seongwoo laughs, purposely craning his head backwards and squealing with laughter when Minhyun’s lips hit a ticklish spot on his neck.

 

“Stop!” he giggles, “You didn’t even give me my ring yet! No kisses until you propose to me properly!”

 

“I have a confession,” Minhyun murmers into the sensitive skin behind Seongwoo’s ear and he shivers.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I..actually don’t have the ring right now,” Minhyun admits sheepishly and Seongwoo pulls back in shock before he bursts out laughing.

 

“What? _What_?” he gasps before doubling over again with only Minhyun to support his weight.

 

“I was going to propose to you next weekend, but we were walking here in the gardens and you looked so _soft_ in the moonlight, I just, I thought ‘This is the man I want to marry, the man I want to wake up beside for the rest of my life’. I didn’t want to wait anymore.”

 

“Stooop,” Seongwoo whines, hiding his face in Minhyun’s neck, “You’re being sappy, stop, you’re going to make me cry again.”

 

“I’m serious!”

 

“You always say things like this with a straight face, you’re impossible.”

 

“But you love this impossible man,” Minhyun teases, arms around Seongwoo’s waist, fingers rubbing soothing circles into his lower back.

 

“I do,” Seongwoo sighs, wiping away the last of his tears, “God help me, I really do.”

 

“So you’ll marry me?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Even without the ring?”

 

Seongwoo leans forward to seal their lips together sweetly, pulling back slowly and leaning their foreheads together. “Even without the ring. Even without anything else. As long as I have you, I’m happy.”

 

“No take backs,” Minhyun sings, swooping forward to steal another kiss that Seongwoo is more than willing to give him. 

 

“He said yes!” he pulls back to announce to the curious crowd around them and they cheer and shout congratulations as Seongwoo throws his head back and laughs, giddy with delight, clutching Minhyun tight.

 

“That means you’re mine now too, mister. Don’t you forget that,” he warns and Minhyun can only grin.

 

 

“Darling, there was never a doubt. I was always your’s.”

 


	14. Ongniel - Pet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by fanart by @mo1_ba (https://twitter.com/mo1_ba/status/967151426789982208/photo/1)

"Welcome home, Young Master Ong."

 

Seongwoo strolled through the door and shrugged off his suit jacket, handing it to his butler without a second look, the man accepting it with a bow and passing it on to a maid who took it and backed away keeping her head lowered respectfully. Seongwoo's long strides had the butler jogging to keep up, "Young Master, the Master and Mistress has sent word that they will not be returning for dinner tonight. Will you be dining here or shall I make arrangements for the chauffeur to take you to an appropriate restaurant?"

 

"Here will be fine, tell the chef I'm craving something in a Western style."

 

“At once, Young Master."

 

"I'll be up in my study, send for some tea, jasmine."

 

“It will be done.”

 

"Oh, and," he slowed for a moment, turning to face the man standing attentively at his side slowly, "how was he today? Did he behave?"

 

His butler was suspiciously silent and Seongwoo sighed, "Never mind, have the tea sent to my room instead along with some light snacks. I'm going to check on my…..guest.”

 

"Very good, Young Master."

 

"That will be all, thank you Jiyong."

 

Seongwoo head to his room swiftly, long legs ascending the stairs easily, and soon he was pushing the doors open to survey the mess with a displeased twist on his lips. 

 

"Is this any way to behave?" he tutted, toeing at one of the ripped pillows with a look of distaste, "Really, I would have thought the youngest son of the Kangs was raised better than this."

 

Daniel looked up at him with a glare, shifting, clearly uncomfortable being scantily clad with only a large dress shirt providing him with any measure of warmth and preserving the last shreds of his dignity, though the fire in his eyes screamed his unwillingness to go down without a fight. The collar around his neck stopped him from lunging at Seongwoo and clawing his eyes out no matter how much he wanted to for the way the elder was looking down his nose at him. 

 

"And I would have thought that the Young Master of the Ongs would have more class than to treat a guest this way," he spat.

 

Seongwoo laughed, striding over to grip the leash attached to Daniel's collar and giving it a warning tug, "For guests I have the utmost courtesy, but for pets? They'd best learn their place and how to behave."

 

"You're despicable!"

 

"You're the one who came to beg me for help," Seongwoo reminded him with a smirk, running his fingers along Daniel's jaw in a mockery of a lover's caress, leaning in close to ghost his lips along the same path his fingers traced just moments ago, delighting in the shiver that the action elicited from Daniel. 

 

"That was the deal, remember?” he nipped at the lobe of Daniel’s ear playfully, chuckling lowly at the younger man’s gasp, “Anything I want you to do for a hundred days, and I'll bail your company out of bankruptcy. Don't tell me you forgot already, _pet_.”


	15. Ongniel - Hybrid!Daniel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Hybrid AU: Seongwoo whose friends get him a Samoyed for his birthday because they think he's lonely and Daniel who is excited but a nervous wreck about meeting his new owner because this is his absolute last chance at a Forever Home._

Daniel’s heart races from the moment he's delivered to the door; actually it’s been racing since the week before when Jisung first informed him that they had someone interested in purchasing him.

 

The apartment is in a nice neighbourhood, Daniel counted three whole parks on the way here, and two ice cream parlours within a ten minutes walk. It’s autumn and Daniel thinks even the trees here with their changing leaves look like they are a more vibrant red and orange and yellow that he’s ever seen.

 

He fidgets in the elevator, holding back the urge to press the button marked “11” a couple more times as if it’ll take them there faster. He smiles and waves at a little girl who gets on with her parents, beaming when she waves back and her parents laugh indulgently. Yes, Daniel sighs happily, he loved it here already. 

 

When they finally arrive at the eleventh floor, Daniel’s bolting out of the elevator ahead of Jisung while his minder laughs and asks him to wait. “Niel-ah! You don’t even know where we’re going! Don’t run off or you won’t get to meet your owner!” and Daniel is darting right back at that warning.

 

He can’t risk it, won’t risk it. He’s going to meet his new owner now and it’s going to be perfect, he knows it. 

 

Jisung rings the doorbell after he fixes Daniel’s hair one last time at his insistence, “Ong Seongwoo?”

 

An handsome man opens the door and he looks like he would be so kind, like he would be the best owner ever and Daniel would give just about anything for this to finally be the one when his owner looks at Jisung with a frown and says, "I think there's been some kind of a mistake, I didn't ask for a samoyed”.

 

Daniel's heart plummets and shatters on the ground.

 

Of course. 

 

Of course it was a mistake. Everything here was much too nice to be for a hybrid like Daniel. None of his previous families had wanted to keep him, why would this beautiful man with his beautiful home want anything to do with Daniel?

 

As he struggles not to cry, Jisung pulls Seongwoo to the side and explains Daniel's situation. Jisung, who has been working tirelessly to find Daniel a home since watching him grow up as a pup and it's heart breaking every time he's been returned with comments like how he's "too energetic" or "too much to handle sometimes" or even "too friendly with strangers”, sets aside his pride and begs Seongwoo to give Daniel a chance. 

 

He tells him that he would pull strings if he could but it's company policy that even if the intended owner didn't order the hybrid themselves and it's returned, it's still a strike against Daniel. This is his last chance, Jisung tells this stranger with a heavy heart, knowing it’s too much to ask but hoping beyond hope anyways. If Daniel gets sent back now, he'll get sent to some group home for Companions that's really no better than a brothel. 

 

Seongwoo takes a look at the despondent look on Daniel's face and sighs, agreeing to give it a shot. 

 

"It'll just be like having a roommate, right?" he asks Jisung and the older man brightens because that's probably the closest he's seen someone regard a hybrid as an equal in his entire career.

 

* * *

 

It's nothing like having a roommate.

 

Daniel walks around Seongwoo on eggshells, only coming out when he's called and staying in his room most of the time, always staring in that eager to please but mildly terrified manner when they were in the same room as if he desperately wanted to talk to Seongwoo but didn't want to disturb him. It takes three days before Seongwoo finally gets tired of it and decides that he should probably do something to fix it.

 

He looks up articles online of how to interact with hybrids but taking Daniel out to the park seemed to terrify him more than anything else. (He'll later find out from Jisung that one of Daniel's previous families had abandoned him at a park instead of returning him properly and feel terrible for unknowingly stepping on that landmine).

 

He tries to include Daniel in household activities but Daniel seems to take every request to help set the table or dry the dishes as a test he cannot fail and as cute as his intense look of concentration is Seongwoo's heart can't take another session of Daniel accidentally drops something and then apologizing in tears, begging Seongwoo not to return him.

 

Trying to engage Daniel in conversation as well was, trying. Daniel spends the entire time as if he's taking a test, giving answers he thinks Seongwoo wants to hear instead of telling him about himself.

 

Standing outside the closed door of Daniel's room now (and hadn't it just broke his heart, the wide-eyed look of wonder Daniel had given him at the prospect of being given his own room, the way he ran his fingers over the desk and bed frame reverently) he knocks gently. "Daniel?"

 

"Yes?" the response comes almost immediately and Seongwoo fights back a smile at how eager the hybrid sounds.

 

"I'm going to go shopping for some stuff, do you want to come with me?"

 

"Okay!" a thump and then Daniel stumbles out of his room, dressed in one of the two outfits that he owns, beaming but still looking rather nervous, "What are we, I mean, what are you buying?"

 

"Oh," Seongwoo runs and heads to the front door, stopping to pick up his car keys, "I figured you need some more clothes, and maybe some stuff for your room. It's awfully bare, isn't it?"

 

"O-oh!" Daniel startles, ears and tail standing at attention as a blush floods his round cheeks, "For me? Y-you don't have to spend any money on me! I'm fine, I have clothes and the room is really nice!"

 

"You need more than two sets of clothes, Daniel," he scolds, "Besides, it's going to get cold soon and you're going to need a thicker jacket. And I thought it would be nice for you to get some stuff to make the room your's, you know? It was just a guest room before, so I just got some generic stuff."

 

When there's no answer, he turns to look at Daniel who's standing frozen in the doorway, eyes wide with wonder and sparkling with unshed tears. "Daniel? Are you okay?" Seongwoo hurries back to pat his cheeks in concern, frowning, "Did I say something wrong?"

 

"N-no!" Daniel jumps a little, biting at his lower lip as hope unfurls in his heart, "You didn't! I'm just, I'm just really happy!"

 

Seongwoo laughs and then holds out a hand, "That's an odd way to show you're happy but come on, let's get going or the traffic is going to be bad on our way home."

 

"Home," Daniel breathes, giddy with delight as he dares to take Seongwoo's hand for the first time.

 

"Yes," Seongwoo gives his hand a little squeeze, "home."


End file.
